


Yurei Matsuri

by EntameWitchLulu



Series: Arc V Rare Pair Week 2019 [7]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: F/F, Festivals, Shrine Maiden!Ruri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-06-30 13:31:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19854187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EntameWitchLulu/pseuds/EntameWitchLulu
Summary: Masumi just needed a break from the festival.  She didn't expect to find a miko taking a nap in the shadows, who claimed she could see ghosts.





	Yurei Matsuri

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!! you may notice that something is different!! That something is my username!! I've been thinking about it for a long time, but it was finally time for a change -- I am now EntameWitchLulu instead of HomuraBakura. Thank you so much for your continued support of my work and I hope to continue seeing y'all in further works >w<
> 
> (how long will i put this message at the beginning of things? at least for a few more updates lol)

Masumi ducked beneath the shadow of the old tree, breathing out with relief at the quiet that muffled the festival stalls. Hopefully, no one had noticed her ducking away. She just...needed a breath.

Masumi put a hand against the tree to steady herself while she took some deep breaths. This yukata was a little too small for her, and it was making it ridiculously hard to move around and even breathe. Ugh. She really should have pestered her mom to buy her a new one. She tugged a little half-heartedly on her obi, but it wasn’t going to get any looser unless she took the whole thing off, and she didn’t know how to tie it back on.

Under the tree, the shadows were so dark she could hardly see her hand. Just a little bit away, the paper lanterns were strung all over, and yet, their glow didn’t seem to reach all the way over here. She leaned against the tree. Just a moment longer, and then she could go back and meet up with the group.

The leaves rustled. She swore and startled in spite of herself, but when she stepped backward, her sandal caught a tree root. She yelped, arms wheeling, her bag flying from her hand as she tumbled backwards — 

And landed on something soft. Something that yelped when she landed on it.

Head spinning, it took Masumi a moment to get back to herself. The thing beneath her shifted, and she realized that she’d fallen on top of something. She pushed herself up to a sitting position, scootching up and off it before turning around on her seat towards whatever she’d fallen on.

“Hey!” she said. “What do you think you’re doing, sneaking up on me like that??”

To be honest, she expected Hokuto. Or Yaiba. Both of them were into that kind of prank.

Instead, she found herself looking at a dizzy-looking girl with long, dark hair, washing down her back like a stream of black ink in the darkness against her white top. 

“I’m sorry,” she said, putting a hand to her head. “I’d — I’d fallen asleep.”

In the shadow, Masumi couldn’t tell for sure, but she thought that the girl might be blushing.

“You fell asleep? During a festival?” Masumi said, blinking.

The girl rubbed the back of her neck with a soft, embarrassed laugh.

“I’d gotten so tired earlier,” she said. “There was so much work to do to set up for the festival.”

“To set up...?”

She stopped, suddenly noting the girl’s outfit — she was dressed like a miko. The girl yawned, rubbing at one eye.

“There was so much clean up,” she said. “Sweeping and purifying and exorcising. You wouldn’t believe how many ghosts come to festivals, you know. But ghosts attract demons, so you have to do so much work to make sure the ghosts can be here for a good time without getting eaten, or attracting demons who put curses on the living.”

Masumi blinked. She stared at the girl.

“Okay, you had me up to the exorcising part,” she said.

The girl looked up and down at Masumi. She smiled then.

“Oh, sorry,” she said. “Sometimes I forget not everyone’s up on the ghost talk. Anyway, are you all right?”

She stood up, dusting off her pants before reaching for Masumi’s hand. Masumi stared at the hand, but, well, her yukata was a pain. She could use a little help getting up. The girl lifted her to her feet, and Masumi went about smoothing out and dusting off her yukata. 

“Well, I apologize for interrupting your nap,” said Masumi. “Even if you picked a stupid place to do it.”

“That’s all right,” the girl said with a laugh. “Sorry for scaring you.”

Even in the dark, it was pretty obvious that this girl was cute. Masumi was trying not to think about it too much — her cheeks were getting warm already as she thought how she’d actually fallen down on  _ top _ of this girl.

“I’d better get back to my friends,” she said lamely.

She took a step back and then hesitated. She patted at her wrists. She groaned.

“What’s wrong?” the girl asked.

“I lost my purse,” Masumi said. “It’s got my money in it.”

“Oh! It can’t have gone far. Here, I’ll help you find it.”

The girl leaned down towards the leaves, starting to brush around with her hands. Masumi carefully knelt down and began to feel around as well.

“My name is Kurosaki Ruri,” the girl said as they searched. “What about you?”

Masumi hesitated, running her fingers through the dirt. That was going to get in her nails and be a pain.

“Kotsu Masumi.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Kotsu-san!”

“Just call me Masumi.”

They searched for a few more minutes, moving farther from the tree. Dammit, how far had she thrown it? It was just too dark over here. She needed some light — but her phone was in her purse, too, so she couldn’t get that out and use it.

“Do you actually see ghosts?” Masumi asked, mostly just for something to fill the silence. She didn’t believe in ghosts.

“Yup!” Ruri said cheerily. “Not very well, though. I’m not good yet. I see them as...shapes. Usually I interpret them like birds, but sometimes I can see the full person behind it.”

Her hands rustled through the leaves as she got a little farther.

“Can the ghosts help us find my purse?” Masumi said as a joke.

Ruri stopped then for a moment, lips parting.

“Oh!” she said, clapping her hands together. “I actually hadn’t thought of that. They can see in the dark better than we can!”

She turned towards the air and began gesturing. Masumi stared at her. Oh. She was actually doing this. She’d thought it was a joke, or some kind of funny bit the miko here did to get more visitors to the shrine. But uh. She was actually trying to talk to a ghost.

“Hang on just a moment,” Ruri said. “I’ve got a few other eyes looking around...ah!!”

She stood up and ran a few feet into the dark. Masumi stayed where she was, staring after her. 

A moment later, Ruri came scurrying back, holding up the purse triumphantly.

“Got it!” she said. She helped a staring Masumi back to her feet, and plopped the purse into her hands.

Masumi stared at the purse. Then at Ruri. Then at the darkness around them. She’d...she’d just seen it herself, right? She had to have. But...then again, the distance she’d gone in the dark was much too far away for anyone to have seen it normally...unless she had really good vision in the dark...

Ugh! Maybe it didn’t matter! Either way, she got her purse back.

“Uh...thank you,” Masumi said, sliding the strap back onto her wrist.

“You ought to thank Kotsu-san, who found it,” Ruri said with a smiling.

Masumi stared at her again.

“Kotsu-san is me, remember?” she said.

“I know! He must be related to you. He looks a lot like a hawk carved from a ruby. He’s been following you around since you got here.”

Masumi’s eyes widened. Her mouth dropped open.

There was... _ no  _ way. Ruri was...describing the ruby hawk that...

“Grandpa?” Masumi said, looking both ways, her voice low and whispered. She didn’t believe this. She couldn’t believe this. But how else...the coincidence...

Ruri smiled. She pointed to Masumi’s right shoulder.

“He’s hanging out right there,” she said. “It’s hard for me to hear him, but I got his name. And he says that he loves you very much. Something...something about a thank you? For a shop? I’m not sure to who.”

Masumi’s eyes involuntarily filled with tears. This must be some kind of parlor trick. Somehow. Ruri must know about her grandpa somehow. But how would she know? That grandpa and her father had had a falling out, that he’d died before they could make up, but father had come back and taken over the gem shop that he’d once hated, and brought it back to life, keeping it alive in grandpa’s memory?

Masumi wiped her tears away quickly, stubbornly refusing to let herself act too taken in.

“Well, thank you,” she said, towards her shoulder, as though humoring Ruri. “For finding my purse. And...and father’s going to keep the shop going. And I’ll take over when he’s done.”

It was more than she meant to say in front of Ruri, but the girl just smiled brightly the whole time.

“Don’t let me keep you from your friends,” she said. “Have fun!”

Masumi hesitated. She glanced at her empty right shoulder again. Then she looked at Ruri.

“You could...I mean. If you’re done sleeping. You could come and join us, if you want.”

Ruri blinked. And she smiled. A blush covered her cheeks.

“Oh!” she said. “If you don’t mind having me...then I would like that!”

Masumi couldn’t help but smile. She nodded back towards the light.

“Then come on, ghost girl,” she said. “You can tell me where all the ghosts are hanging out.”

The pair smiled, and walked back out of the shadows.


End file.
